4H of Dubai – EL1: Algarve Pro Racing ahead of RD Limited

The first of two free practice sessions for the Dubai 4 Hours weekend saw the #20 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca set the fastest time through Alex Quinn in a 1:47.199, just 0.073s ahead of championship leaders RD Limited.

The session was interrupted by a red flag when the Porsche No. 10 of Manthey and theAston Martin Blackthorn's #19 cars collided at Turn 3. Both drivers escaped unharmed, but the cars had to be removed from the circuit, so the session was halted to allow the stewards to complete the task as quickly as possible.

The #50 AF Corse Oreca set the third fastest time despite a driveshaft issue early in the session. Olivier Pla set a lap of 1:47.949, 0.677s behind James Allen in the #30 RD Limited and 0.067s ahead of the #83 AF Corse Oreca of Matthieu Vaxiviere.

The #15 RLR MSport Ligier was the fastest of the seven LM P3s entered after Ian Aguilera set a time of 1:55.367, 0s clear of the second fastest car of Kevin Rabin in the #092 Inter Europol Ligier. The #43 High Class Racing Ligier was third while championship leaders Ultimate finished the 49-minute session in fifth, eight-tenths behind the leading car.

A Mercedes-AMG took the lead in the GT class, with Lucas Auer setting the fastest time of the session in 1:58.789 in the No. 14 Climax Racing car. The Austrian driver was 0.611s ahead of McLaren Optimum Motorsport's #77, with Marvin Kirchhöfer clocking a time of 1:59.400, just 14 thousandths of a second ahead of the Ferrari 296 n°57 of the Car Guy team driven by Daniel Serra.

The second free practice session will start at 13:45 p.m. (French time) this afternoon.

Discover the ranking of Free Practice 1 of the 4H of Dubai HERE

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